Organic search 'leading iPhone interest'

27th June 2008

Natural search listings sent the most iPhone-based traffic to Apple's official site in April, a new report shows.

Figures published this week by comScore indicate that 83.5 per cent of iPhone-related click-throughs derived from organic listings, with 16.5 per cent coming from paid search.

According to the report, 1.3 million people were engaged in 6.9 million queries about the 3G iPhone, which was unveiled by Apple boss Steve Jobs earlier this month.

The official Apple site received the majority of click-throughs from these searches, taking a share of 17.5 per cent.

Meanwhile, Google's share of click-through queries about the new iPhone - which Mr Jobs said would be "more affordable" at a starting price of $199 (£100) - was found to be 33 per cent higher than its total market share would suggest.

Dan Lackner, senior vice-president of the research firm, commented: "Search is frequently a harbinger of purchase intent.

"The increase in volume of iPhone searches demonstrates just how heavy that interest has been for the next generation of Apple's popular phone – even when its existence was still just a rumour."